Tag in the Clouds
by de yaten
Summary: Loz is the last one to awaken in the Lifestream. He's been dreaming of blood and Sephiroth and a girl in pink, who greets him when he awakens. "Everyone has been waiting for you!" After AC. :: Loz/Yazoo, Kadaj/Loz, Aerith/Zack ::


Title: Tag in the Clouds

Author: Digimon Empress Yaten (de yaten)

Notes: For Starherd! This is my first "blah blah AFTER AC" fic, because I generally cringe at them. It was inspired by the last chapter in the "Kadaj Mania" doujinshi, which was absolutely adorable.

Pairings/Warnings: A bit of m/m kissing but nothing bad.

Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy 7, its characters, nor do I claim to own them.

* * *

The only thing Loz can see when he wakes up is white. Intense, painful white. It hurts, and for a few minutes he shields his eyes and tries to blink away some of the intensity. The time silently ticks by, and he tries to recall exactly how he ended up... wherever he was.

The last thing he remembers is being next to Yazoo, and asking Nii-san to come with them. They had almost been finished by the bomb those Turks made, but their will to find Mother and Kadaj had carried them to where they could last sense their younger brother. But Nii-san didn't want to come with them, and there was an explosion that separated everybody. Yazoo was flung to the side by the blast, and Loz saw the beginnings of his brother's body splitting into the Lifestream as he felt his own being pulled apart.

When he finally removes his gloved hand and squints around, it's still... white. Very white. It surrounds him and carries off into the distance, as far as he can make out. A vast expanse of white flowers and white tree leaves and white clouds against a barely-blue tinted sky.

"Just where in the hell is this place?"

"Ah-ah-ah, watch that language, mister!"

Loz is startled and immediately whirls around, raising his fists to the unknown voice.

He's greeted to the site of a girl clad in pink and wearing a patient smile. A nagging whisper in the back of his mind tells him that he knows this girl, or he did once, but he ignores it in favor of raising his Dual Hound arm and—

"My Dual Hound!"

He waves the weaponless arm in frustration, examining it from several angles as if the massive weapon could be hiding from him. Finally, he gives the girl - unmoving, still with that patient smile - an accusatory stare.

"You! What did you do with my weapon?! Give it back! And just where the _hell_—"

She tsks.

"Loz, there's no need to yell. I can hear you just fine. My name is Aerith, by the way." She pauses for a bit, and turns to face away from him. "Now, if you'll just come with me, I can explain everything." She motions for the Remnant to follow, and turns back slightly when she hears hesitant foosteps. "And don't step on the flowers!" The silver haired Remnant looks around in frustration and begins to - well, tries to - step over the dense field of flowers. She falters, smile never fading. "I was just kidding! C'mon, there's a lot to show you."

They walk for what seems like a few hours, and several times Loz childishly plops himself on the ground in frustration. A few times, he sits purposely on the most delicate looking blossoms, just to see if she would stop _smiling _already. She doesn't.

"Let's keep going, Loz," she says finally, when he's been sitting and pouting too long for her taste. "We don't want to keep everyone waiting!"

To that, he finally looks up and speaks for the first time since they began walking.

"Everyone? Does that mean..." He chews a little on his lip, not wanting to reveal _them _to her, in case she doesn't know about her brothers. Kadaj had always told them never to speak of one another when alone, because humans were not to be trusted with their secrets.

Aerith nods. "Mm-hmm. Kadaj and Yazoo are already waiting for you - you must've been dreaming very hard, because you're the last one to wake up! Now," she says, holding out her hand to him. "If we hurry, we can get there in time to play a few games before bedtime!" She smiles, because there really _isn't_ a nighttime here, hence no actual bedtime, but she liked to pretend that they were all a big family, instead of a ragtag group of friends and strangers.

Loz smiles and grips her hand, intent on seeing Kadaj and Yazoo even if her smile was grating and she was too sweet for his tastes. Eventually they come upon a two story house surrounded by –of course, he groans—a beautiful open garden. As they come into the front yard, there's a sudden yell, very loud pounding and - Aerith cringes - the sound of breaking glass. The door the building gives way and falls forward, and a disheveled Kadaj topples to the ground on top of the ruined door. Yazoo is standing behind him, looking a bit embarrassed for the both of them.

Aerith pouts and puts her hands on her hips, and almost begins to scold him –Kadaj could be such a _teenager _sometimes –but stops because of the sudden electricity in the air. The commotion of the moment before is gone, and Yazoo helps Kadaj to stand before they stare at their late-in-coming brother. Aerith holds her breath, because the moment is crucial. It's almost like introducing new baby Chocobos to a herd, she thinks. Everything had to be just right.

Finally, Yazoo speaks.

"Loz..." The longhaired remnent whispers the name, stretching it through the distance between them. There's longing in his voice, coupled with a mixture of something Aerith can't quite place.

Loz is tackling Yazoo in less than a second, and Aerith almost cries out to stop the fight until she sees that the strong arms are wrapped around the longhaired Remnant's body, and his mako green eyes are wet with tears.

"Yazoo," Loz says, burying his face in his brother's soft silver hair and squeezing tightly. Yazoo responds by wrapping his own lithe arms around Loz's neck, whispering something against the strong muscles. Loz simply repeats the name until he hears a strange tapping from behind him. He reluctantly loosens his grip, arms still around Yazoo's waist, and turns to see Kadaj tapping his foot expectantly. His arms are crossed and he looks angry, but he breaks out laughing when he sees the familiar kicked-puppy look in Loz's eyes.

Kadaj dives between Yazoo and Loz, knocking the oldest Remnant to the grass and sitting squarely on his chest.

"Didja miss me?"

Loz feels his throat tighten—he really _did _miss them when he was… dreaming, Aerith said? Yes, he had been dreaming, he remembers. Dreaming of Sephiroth and Nii-san and sometimes Aerith. But she had been praying and bloody in his dreams, so he tries not to think about that anymore.

He nods, and puts his hands around Kadaj's back.

"Missed me, missed me, now you gotta kiss me," Kadaj murmurs, and he leans down and places a chaste kiss on Loz's lips before simply laying horizontally on Loz, with his head resting against the other's cheek.

A few minutes pass, and Aerith clears her throat.

"Not to interrupt," she says, "but I can't help but feel a little left out here!" Her voice is light, teasing, and Kadaj grins up at her.

"Don't feel left out, Onee-san! Oo," he says, clapping his hands together and jumping to his feet, "I have an idea! Let's play a game!"

Yazoo looks to Loz, because he knows when Loz hears _game _he thinks of fights and blood, and that attitude would definitely not fly with Aerith. A perfect saint she wasn't, but she discouraged anything beyond brotherly wrestling and wouldn't approve of his brother's type of "game." Although Yazoo might've only thought of Aerith as less-than-perfect because she made him sit against the Naughty Wall for trying to stab Zack with a dinner fork on his first night in the house.

Still, Loz doesn't seem eager for a fight right now. He simply sits up and looks to Kadaj expectantly. "What sort of game, Kadaj?"

The youngest remnant gives a slow grin, and then zips toward Loz with an outstretched hand.

"Tag! You're it!"

Loz is momentarily stunned, before he recollects himself and dashes after Kadaj, who is already rounding the side of the house.

Aerith smiles—she's a bit too old for tag, she says to the empty front yard—and retreats inside to make dinner. To her surprise, Zack was already in the kitchen, assembling sandwiches and stirring something on the stove.

"That Loz?" He says, nodding toward the window the brothers just zoomed across.

"Mm-hmm."

"How'd it go?" He hands her a knife and she begins slicing up some tomatoes.

"Pretty good. It's almost perfect."

Zack raises an eyebrow and tosses some celery into the boiling pot. "Almost?"

"Well," she begins, wiping her brow with the back of her hand. "I haven't exactly told him about the no-fighting rule as of yet."

Zack taps at the band-aid that currently stuck to his forehead.

"Yeah, well, let's just hope we don't have a repeat of the _Yazoo _incident."

She laughs, and sighs, because she can already hear the beginnings of a fight outside.

"No fair! I was on _safe_, so _you're _still it!"

"There is no _safe _in tag, idiot!"

"Yes there is!"

"No there's NOT!"

"Well there SHOULD BE, and—"

Aerith shakes her head and shuts the window, before slapping Zack softly on the back.

"Better break up the fight, Zack _Nii__-san_."


End file.
